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For discussion: ‘Sounding the Scriptures’
1. In what setting have you heard someone “sound the Scripture,” telling a Bible story without reading it? How is re-telling a story different from reading it or repeating it from memory? What makes an effective biblical children’s story? 2. John Epp says his early attempts to read the Bible on his own were “far…
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‘Sounding the Scriptures’
Managing editor Ross W. Muir was introduced to biblical storytelling when John Epp, a member of the Network of Biblical Storytellers Canada and Toronto United Mennonite Church, visited First Mennonite Church in Kitchener, Ont., last spring. Following that encounter, the two chatted in person and online over the summer and into the fall. Ross W. Muir:…
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For discussion: Discipleship as Citizenship
1. Do your Christian values make you feel like a resident alien in Canada? How strong are your ties of loyalty to Canada? How strong is your allegiance to your local community or municipality? How do these ties of loyalty compare with your allegiance to your church community? 2. Do you find it helpful to…
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Remembering and honouring ‘soldiers’ of Christ
In Philippians 2:25-30, the Apostle Paul advises the violently besieged Christian community in Philippi to grant special “honours” to a “fellow-soldier” who has “risked his life” in service of Christ. The cadre of Jesus loyalists, suffering under pressure from Roman imperial authority, is invited by Paul to take up a unified but nonviolent defence in…
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Discipleship as citizenship
In the first 300 years of the Christian church, before church and state became fused, preachers and leaders regularly used the language of “citizenship” to describe the Christian community and its way of life. Where did this come from, and why was this linguistic practice forgotten? The most explicit example of this imagery comes from…
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Imagine!
In Charles Dickens' well-known story, A Christmas Carol, anyone who dares enter the inner sanctum of Ebenezer Scrooge's office with so much as a suggestion of Christmas is greeted with the now famous words: "Bah! Humbug! " His nephew is told by Scrooge, "If I could work my will, every idiot who goes about with…
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For discussion: Imagine!
1. Do you know anyone with a “Bah! Humbug! ” attitude towards Christmas? What makes you want to say “Bah! Humbug! ”? Where do you draw the line on sentimentalism? What does it mean to have a heart for Christmas? 2. Do you agree with Ray Friesen that, “You need imagination to do Christmas”? If…
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Reading list on atonement
Atonement, Justice and Peace: The Message of the Cross and the Mission of the Church by Darrin Snyder Belousek. Eerdmans, 2012. Instead of Atonement: The Bible’s Salvation Story and our Hope for Wholeness by Ted Grimsrud. Cascade Books, 2013. Jesus Christ Our Lord: Christology from a Disciple’s Perspective by C. Norman Kraus. Herald Press, 1987.…
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Atonement metaphors/theories
Christus Victor/Ransom When humanity sinned in Genesis 3, they fell under the control of Satan. Due to personal sin, no human being was able to pay the ransom to free humanity, so God came among humanity as Jesus, sinless and able to pay the price. If Satan had known that Jesus was “God in the…
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Atonement
In the 1990s, when the Mennonite church in Ontario was deciding whether to add Hymnal: A Worship Book to its pews, a dear (now departed) saint approached me, saying, “I hear that they’ve taken out all the blood songs.” The person wondered if this important part of church heritage and theology was going to be…
